Eric Chase takes his first Late Model Victory at T-Road after 14 years

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By Carol Gafford

The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see
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The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see resource for landlubbers and mariners alike.

Carol Gafford is a public librarian, family historian, amateur archivist and book savior. She is currently the youth services/outreach librarian at the Swansea Public Library and volunteers for several museum and historical societies including the Marine Museum at Fall River, the Swansea Historical Society and the Bristol Historical and Preservation society. She is the editor of Past Times, the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists and is always looking for a new project to take on.

Todd Bertrand made it three straight Angelillo Memorials Saturday night, winning the 25-lap Northeastern Midget Association feature at Waterford Speedbowl’s Wings & Wheels. Grabbing the lead seven laps in, Bertrand went on to a convincing victory, his second of the season.

Most of the drama came before the feature and included a bad heat experience and Todd’s dad Gil traveling back to Enfield to get a replacement part after an oil line fitting went bad.

Turning a sizzling 12.794 lap en route to victory, Bertrand (Bertrand 39) came from the eighth starting spot, grabbed the lead from early leader Paul Scally (Scally 30) through turns three and four and took the checkered 4.75 seconds ahead of Randy Cabral. It was the third straight Angelillo runner-up finish for Cabral.

A couple of battles ranged behind Cabral. Russ Stoehr (Dumo’s Desire 45) finished third less than a tenth of a second ahead of Anthony Marvuglio (Bertrand 74). Scally held on for fifth just ahead of point leader John Zych Jr. (Zych 9).

“I showed Paul my nose through one and two, and he gave me all the room I needed in three and four,” Bertrand explained the winning pass. He immediately pulled away and enjoyed a big lead when caution showed with 13 left.

Bertrand got away from Scally on the restart, leaving behind a five car battle. Cabral cleared Stoehr and Scally to settle in second with eight remaining. “I really didn’t know who was behind me but I could see the 47 on the scoreboard and that worried me,” said Bertrand.

A week earlier, Bertrand had “driven off the track” at Airborne Speedway, a “driver error” that was not easy to forget.”I stayed mentally tough all week,” said the former schoolboy soccer standout. The challenges continued.

First there as the oil line problem in the first practice. “We were lucky we had so much time,” said Bertrand, acknowledging the many divisions at the event. Missing the second practice, repairs were completed in time for the second heat.

“We chose a right rear tire that Doug Coby ran in a heat race back in May that had just two heat cycles,” Bertrand said. “I was just being cheap. I almost hit the wall I got so loose.” An angry Gil was among the frustrations as Bertrand “just kept my head in it.”

Come feature time, he kept his foot in it as well. Both the margin of victory and fast lap surprised him. “I don’t think anybody has turned that in a feature for a long time,” he said of the latter.

Scott Bigelow withstood a strong restart challenge from Ian Cumens and went on to win the 25-lap Northeastern Midget Association Lites feature Saturday night at Waterford Speedbowl’s Wings & Wheels. The race was added to the program following rain at the scheduled race at Lee USA Speedway Friday night.

It was a strong run for Bigelow (Bigelow 320) who ran consistent low 14 second laps en route to his first win of the season.

The yellow flew at the halfway point when Carl Mederios Jr. and Avery Stoehr came together. Bigelow, who had led most of the race, lined up with Cumens beside him. They went through one and two side-by-side, Cumens backing a bid on the outside heading down the back chute.

“I kind of pinched him off a little bit,” admitted Bigelow, one of three brothers in the race.

“I was up in the marbles ,” acknowledged Cumens, pointing out losing momentum “something you want to avoid” in the Lites. Danny Cugini, in fact, got by him and the leaders were half a straightaway ahead when Cumens began the final bid.

He passed Cugini for second with 13 left and at the finish was .341 of a second behind Bigelow. He had a race-best 14.199 (95.077 mph) lap.

Cugini (Cugini 51) was third followed by Kenny Johnson (Johnson 46) and Logan Rayvals (Rayvals 94). Lites rookie Anthony Payne turned in his best effort of the season, finishing sixth in the Scrivani 21.

The race did not pay points. The point battle resumes Saturday night at Riverside Speedway in Groveton, NH.